The Passenger Weinberg
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The Passenger Weinberg 140996_LyricOpera_Passenger_cover.indd 1 2/3/15 7:42 AM LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO Table of Contents KARL FORSTER/BREGENZ FESTIVAL FORSTER/BREGENZ KARL IN THIS ISSUE The Passenger pp. 24-38 6 From the General Director 46 Aria Society 8 From the President 55 Breaking New Ground 10 Board of Directors 56 60th Anniversary Gala Contributors 12 Women’s Board/Guild Board/Chapters’ Executive Board/ 57 Major Contributors – Special Events and Project Support Ryan Opera Center Board 58 Lyric Unlimited Contributors/Look To The Future 14 Administration/Administrative Staff/Production and 59 Ryan Opera Center Contributors Technical Staff 60 Annual Corporate Support/Matching Gift 16 The Ultimate Challenge: Sir Andrew Davis Discusses 62 Planned Giving: the Opera of Wagner The Overture Society 24 Tonight's Opera 64 Annual Individual and Foundation Support 25 Story of the Opera 70 Commemorative Gifts 27 Cast 71 Special Thanks/Acknowledgements 28 Cast Profiles 72 Facilities and Services/ Theatre Staff 35 Opera Notes 40 Musical Staff/Orchestra/Chorus 42 Artistic Roster Miecyzsław 43 Ryan Opera Center/Lyric Unlimited/Education Corps/ Weinberg Supernumeraries 44 Patron Salute On the cover: Zofia Posmysz, author of the novel on which The Passenger is based. Pictured are her camp identity photos from Auschwitz, where she was a prisoner from 1942 to 1945. Images reprinted courtesy of Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, as per Alek Laskowski of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Warsaw. 2 | FEBRUARY 24 - MARCH 15, 2015 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO Since 1991 www.performancemedia.us 3453 Commercial Avenue, Northbrook, IL 60062 Gail McGrath Publisher & President Sheldon Levin Publisher & Director of Finance A. J. Levin Director of Operations Account Managers Sheryl Fisher - Michael Hedge - Arnie Hoffman Southwest Betsy Gugick & Associates 972-387-1347 Executive Editor Midwest David L. 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Nothing may be reproduced in any manner with- out written permission. © 2015 Performance Media & Gail McGrath & Associates, Inc. is a Woman Owned Business 4 | FEBRUARY 24 - MARCH 15, 2015 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO From the General Director I first saw Miecyzsław Weinberg’s The Passenger at its world stage premiere at the 2010 Bregenz Festival. It impressed and moved me so profoundly that I immediately spoke to the production’s director, David Pountney, about presenting it at Houston Grand Opera, where I was general director at the time. Weinberg’s body of work is huge, including many symphonies, oratorios, chamber music, songs and a number of operas. The Passenger was commissioned by Moscow’s Bolshoi Theater in the early 1960s, but every attempt to produce it during the Soviet era, both in the Soviet Union and elsewhere, was suppressed by the authorities. Prior to the Bregenz world stage premiere in 2010, it had been heard only in concert – in Moscow in 2006. The composer was a native of Warsaw. When the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939, he escaped to the East because that was his only way out of Poland. Many of his family were murdered in the Holocaust. After STEVE LEONARD STEVE moving to the Soviet Union, he was a victim of Stalin’s anti-Semitic purges. He survived, becoming a great friend and colleague of Shostakovich, and it’s now clear that each was a notable influence on the other. Admirers of Shostakovich’s works will respond immediately to the musical world of The Passenger: it’s very mid-20th- century; it’s melodic content is distinct and deeply appealing; and it illuminates and animates the story in a very clear, engaging way. As the son of an Auschwitz survivor, I have an instinctive suspicion of works of art that have been inspired by the Holocaust. Many of them seem to me to be either too melodramatic, too sentimental, or too simplistic. However, when I first saw and heard The Passenger, it struck me immediately as an extraordinarily mature, sensitive, and complex exploration of both victim and perpetrator. Weinberg chose to tell his Holocaust story with a non-Jewish protagonist. Marta is a Polish nationalist, but there is no doubt that fundamentally the piece is about the spirit of Marta representing humanity, and its triumph against a level of inhumanity that we can scarcely conceive. The cast performing The Passenger at Lyric is made up of remarkable singing actors, headed by Ryan Opera Center alumna Amanda Majeski, Daveda Karanas, and Brandon Jovanovich. The production has been created by an internationally renowned team. We’re fortunate indeed that David Pountney, who was instrumental in restoring this work to public attention, was available to remount it here at Lyric. All of us at Lyric deeply miss the presence of the production’s set designer, Johan Engels, whose sudden death last November was an enormous loss to the international artistic community. Lyric is dedicating our performances of The Passenger to his memory. The importance of this opera prompted us through our community-engagement initiative, Lyric Unlimited, to create an extensive series of public discussions and performances throughout Chicago (including the world premiere of a newly commissioned klezmer opera, Wlad Marhulets’s The Property). These events are being presented under the title “Memory and Reckoning.” It is our hope that they will combine with The Passenger to help all of us achieve a better understanding of a period of modern history that, though unspeakably horrific and monumentally tragic, offered us examples of courage and heroism that will live for all time. Anthony Freud 6 | FEBRUARY 24 - MARCH 15, 2015 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO From the President Welcome to Lyric Opera and our 60th anniversary season! I know you’ll have a memorable experience in the Ardis Krainik Theatre, and I hope it will inspire you to return throughout the season. Excellence. Relevance. Fiscal responsibility. These are the core values of Lyric Opera, and we can anticipate that the 2014- 15 season will in every way exemplify them, showing clear evidence of the company’s continuing aspiration to be the great North American opera company for the 21st century. Excitement and momentum are palpable under the leadership trio of general director Anthony Freud, music director Sir Andrew Davis, and creative consultant Renée Fleming. The entire company demonstrates extraordinary dedication to producing artistic excellence onstage. At the same time, Lyric is expanding its reach and relevance to the vast Chicago community through events presented under the Lyric Unlimited umbrella. Our audience is continuing to grow DAN REST DAN and so is our donor base, as we continue to seek to earn your loyalty through all our activities, both on and off the stage. Ongoing financial sustainability is, of course, critical to Lyric’s future. Our “Breaking New Ground” campaign – unanimously affirmed by the Board of Directors in early 2013 – is designed to support our new strategic initiatives that are now in place. We already enjoy the support of a large and enthusiastic number of subscribers and single-ticket buyers. But we need to broaden and deepen the cultural service we provide to a larger number of people, and to do this, we must diversify and grow our activities. We want to increase the number of new productions in our opera season, annually produce a major musical, and significantly increase the range of activities both inside the opera house and around the city through our Lyric Unlimited initiative. We want to reach more children by increasing our presence in schools around the city. We need to invest substantially in new technology. We are redesigning our website, intensifying our digital communications activities and updating our information technology systems. We urgently need to modernize and upgrade our stage facilities and equipment, where we have fallen behind over the last 20 years. The investment is now needed to safeguard Lyric’s position as one of the world’s foremost opera companies. As we move forward to secure a successful, vibrant future for the company, our reliance on funded long-term contributed revenue support is greater than ever. We want to increase the endowment by $100 million over the next three to five years, to be achieved principally through legacy gifts. Please consider including Lyric Opera in your estate planning and join our illustrious Overture Society of planned givers. Breaking New Ground is receiving broad and generous support from the Board of Directors, but to be successful we must secure financial support from a broader range of patrons and donors. We welcome and encourage your support as we work to ensure Lyric’s long-term viability at the standards of excellence we all expect and demand. Please know how grateful we are to each and every one of you. As audience members and donors, you are vital to Lyric’s health and success. I thank you on behalf of Lyric’s artists, staff, and volunteer boards. With your support we’ll maintain this company’s stature as not only one of the crown jewels of Chicago cultural life, but also one of the most respected and distinguished opera companies in the world. Kenneth G. Pigott 8 | FEBRUARY 24 - MARCH 15, 2015 LYRIC OPERA OF CHICAGO Board of Directors Life Directors W.